Internet Blackout in Myanmar Stalls Citizen Report 185
StonyandCher writes "The government in Myanmar has reportedly cut off Internet access in the troubled country.
The loss of Internet access in Myanmar has slowed the tide of photos and videos shared with the rest of the world but people outside of the troubled country continue to use new media sites and other technologies to protest military activity in the Southeast Asia country."
This, my friends.... (Score:5, Interesting)
You don't want to put all of your communication eggs in one government-controlled basket.
Umm... only question: Why so late? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, maybe their astrologer said they should wait 2 more weeks 'cause then the stars are aligned or something.
Defeating repressive government censorship (Score:1, Interesting)
In other words, is there anything we in the open source community can do to tangibly help the monks in Burma, or any monks the future may bring?
Satellite access a possibility? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's worse than that... (Score:3, Interesting)
Morse? (Score:5, Interesting)
Losing the connection to Burma slightly, the Romans employed four flags on poles to communicate messages up and down Hadrian's Wall. In ideal conditions they could get a 4-bit message from one end to the other (70-something miles) in a matter of seconds - that's a pretty good bitrate for something with no electricity behind it. Granted you can't get streaming video of monks being beaten up at that kind of bandwidth but radio's a different story.
And setting up mobile radio stations is probably easier than installing a massive communications line of wooden poles without the military noticing. Many brave individuals carefully concealed both receivers and transmitters throughout occupied Europe often at great personal risk, for example. Communications routed around damage even back then. I'm sure there are people within that country right now beaming data out. I wonder where messages in bottles cast out on their beaches would wash ashore. You could squeeze quite a bit of memory into a bottle.
Anyway, I think what I'm rambling about is that there's always a way. I just hope there are enough people with the balls out there taking these risks and, much more importantly, I hope that their messages do not fall on deaf ears. Sadly I feel some of the more powerful countries, who might otherwise be in a position to levy some immense pressure on the Burmese junta, are somewhat under-staffed at the moment. Although it's fair to say that some other countries - that are most definitely not under-staffed - remain on the outside of this affair for rather more cryptic and apparently self-serving reasons.
All said with humble and awkward apologies for commenting on the topic while enjoying a comfortable yet-to-be-oppressed privileged lifestyle.
Re:Umm... only question: Why so late? (Score:3, Interesting)
No, that won't make it possible for mobile phones to transmit with the strength necessary to reach orbit, or to cope with the signal delay.
One interesting tidbit: On the Thai side of the very porous Burmese border, you can go into any 7-Eleven and buy an AIS One-2-Call SIM card for as little as 50 baht (about US$1.50). AIS often run cheap deals [one-2-call.com] where you can get many hours of GPRS time for almost nothing. Along the border in Thailand you'll see cell towers, with antennas pointing in all directions, notably including into Burma. I find that I can get a signal from hilltops many miles into the country.
Movement within Burma is restricted, but there is no practical way to stop something as small as a micro-SD card from moving to the border regions. So it should theoretically be possibly to set up an Underground Railroad for data, albeit one that works on a scale of days rather than microseconds. I think one of the main things preventing this at the moment is a lack of technical sophistication on the part of the people inside. I work with Burmese refugee groups from time to time, and it is amazing to me how many technological possibilities remain to be explored.
When you see the mental hunger of someone who has just made it out of Burma, ended up at a refugee welfare organisation in Thailand, and stays up until dawn surfing the web night after night, preferring to read the BBC web site than eat or go to the bathroom, it's clear why that sophistication is missing. People just have no exposure to information technology and haven't had any chance to develop their skills; those who do are either (1) wealthy and connected, (2) returnees from abroad, or (3) very exceptional self-motivators, who are in small numbers anywhere. What works there in terms of slowing the movement of information would never work in other countries.
Re:internet censorship in Myanmar brought to you b (Score:1, Interesting)
According to the OpenNet Initiative [6], FortiGuard is used by the dictatorship of Myanmar (Burma) to block communications critical of the regime carried over the internet, a system known as the Myanmar Wide Web [7].
Meanwhile, the Myanmar government features its adoption of the Fortinet firewall on its official website [9] with other photos showing a Fortinet sales director presenting a gift to the Myanmar Prime Minister during a ceremony [10].
Just giving him a gift, hmm ?
Take these f*ckers
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2007/09/29/hackers-unite-for-burmese-freedom [thesietch.org]
Bloggers and other cyber activists within Burma risk their lives by publishing any information counter to the government line, but they still do it because they believe that freedom of expression is worth that sacrifice.
You don't have to make such a sacrifice, but if you have computer skills, can breach firewalls, routers and web site security then you could greatly assist the people of Burma. By taking down official Burmese government propaganda and posting pictures, information about the protests, information about the lies of the Burmese junta, and news of the huge support being offered by the rest of the world - preferably in Burmese - then you could help free the people from this terrible regime.